On Thursday, a division bench of the Gujarat high court refused to override a single judge’s order to the National Institute of Design to grant provisional admission to two students from the general category who had already been filled from economically backward classes (EWS).
The bench asked the single judge to postpone the hearing until the issue was resolved so that the students would know their fate if the trial was decided against them and they had to abandon their studies in the middle.
Anjal Thottan and Suyash Tiwari, both students, applied to the master’s degree programme in New Media Design in the general category but did not make the list of successful applicants. They requested, but were denied, that the university consider them for admission to the EWS quota, where no one was available, and that two EWS quota seats be converted to general category.
The single judge instructed NID to grant them provisional admission pending the outcome of the case. The premier institute filed an appeal with the division bench, claiming that the central government has not stated its position on converting empty EWS quota seats to general category seats.
According to NID’s counsel, the government has also warned the institute not to retort the seats. The division bench inquired, “Whose are the government’s orders?”
You may simply disregard the department’s instructions.
If seats remain unfilled, the Centre has been instructed to state its position on whether general category students will be eligible for a seat in the EWS quota.
The division bench informed NID that if the two seats remained vacant, no meaningful purpose would be served.
Two well-rounded students should be considered for a job by the college.